Baroness Betty Boothroyd blasts David Cameron for promoting cronies to House of Lords

As Apprentice star Karren Brady dons the ermine we ask why only China has more unelected lawmakers than 'democratic' Britain

Former Commons speaker Betty Boothroyd led protests at David Cameron’s plans to stuff the House of Lords with more donors, cronies and B-list celebrities.

Baroness Boothroyd blasted Mr Cameron for filling Parliament’s Upper Chamber with “lobby fodder” to do his bidding – with the PM set to appoint at least 20 more peers.

Apprentice star Karren Brady, and former Marks & Spencer boss Sir Stuart Rose are among those who will be draped in ermine this week. Hedge fund boss Michael Farmer is also likely to be among a dozen or so new Tory peers after donating nearly £6million to the party.

Lady Boothroyd, now a crossbench peer who was the first woman Speaker in the Commons, suggested most of the new cronies would not improve debates or lawmaking.

“The Prime Minister – all prime ministers – are very keen to put a lot of new members in here so they get their legislation through,” she said.

“And they pile them in irrespective because it is what I call lobby fodder. They go through the lobbies and they vote for the Prime Minister who put them there.”

The House of Lords is the biggest law-making body outside China and is just as undemocratic. Some 774 unelected peers are entitled to sit on the red benches. Each one is also ­entitled to claim an attendance fee of up to £300 tax-free a day.

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Peers collect more than £120,000 a year on average so the new appointments could cost the taxpayer £3million annually. Some 161 have been appointed since Mr Cameron came to power.

Lib Dem Deputy PM Nick Clegg will make around half a dozen people peers while Labour’s Ed Miliband will get just three, including former ­EastEnders actor Michael Cashman.

The appointments come as the Lords tries to rebuild its reputation in the wake of the Lord Hanningfield “clocking on” scandal.

The famous red leather benches were only built for 230 noble behinds, so many peers have to sit in an overspill pen where they can listen to debates but cannot speak.

Lady Boothroyd said: “It is so overcrowded that there is not enough space for two thirds of us. It is appalling.

“There is no commercial enterprise who would put up with what we put up with here.”

At the last count five years ago two-thirds of peers were aged 65 or over and 15% were over 80.

Lady Boothroyd, 84, said: “What we really need is proper reform so that there will be a ­retirement age or a number of years they should perform here.”

She added: “I’m getting on in years and I wouldn’t mind putting my hand up for a certain retirement age if it comes to it.”

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Speaker of the Lords Baroness D’Souza described the chamber as “very crowded”.

She added: “It means that at Question Time there are sometimes some rather unseemly fights. There is a lot of competition and a lot of ­resentment that builds out of that.”

The prospect of more peers has sparked fresh calls for an elected second chamber.

Katie Ghose, chief executive of the Electoral Reform Society, said: “In a modern society, we should surely be able to choose those who govern us.

“Until we have an elected second chamber, as opposed to one full of party donors, we will not be getting the democracy we deserve.”

House of Lords and Cronies

£120k

Annual cost of member

£93m

Cost of House of Lords

195

Number of ex MPs in Lords

Emily Randall, of the Unlock ­Democracy pressure group, added: “The system of appointments is a throwback to a
pre-democratic Britain. It has no place in a modern democracy.

“The price is too high, with peers able to claim thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money without even voting or sitting on a committee.

Labour believes Mr Cameron and Nick Clegg are loading the Parliamentary dice in preparation for losing control of the Commons at the general election next May. The PM and his deputy have created 60 Conservative and 34 Lib Dem peers since coming to power, meaning there are 319 Coalition peers compared to 220 Labour lords – a majority of 99. The new recruits will make it even harder for a Labour government to get laws through Parliament.

Labour MP Sarah Champion said it was wrong that taxpayers foot the bill. “David Cameron said he wanted to cut the cost of politics but he’s added millions to the bill,” she said.

“We need a Prime Minister who puts hardworking people first, but David Cameron seems more concerned with promoting donors and cronies. Again we see the Tories only stand up for a privileged few.”